Moonlight Heart
by Aki0Storyteller0
Summary: For five years, she has been searching and has failed to find him. "Kisa, why do you want to be a Hunter so bad?" I smiled sadly, "I guess I'm like Gon; I'm looking for my Big Brother." "Your brother?" "Yeah." "Why are you looking for him? Shouldn't he be looking for you?" "I don't think he knows I'm alive, but I made a promise ... Five years ...". "Don't leave me - us." "I won't."
1. TRAUMA X LIMIT X SWEET TRAP

Disclaimer for story: I do _**not** _own Hunter x Hunter; I will **_not_** own it even though I would love to. I _**do**_ own my OCs (or Original Characters for those that don't know what OC means).

(Author Note: I'm following the 1999 Anime for this story.)

* * *

**Moonlight Heart**

**A Hunter x Hunter Fanfiction**

**TRAUMA X LIMIT X SWEET TRAP**

* * *

I was born into a nice family; I had an older brother, a mother, and a father. And then I had the other members of the clan. My life was good, it was a life that I knew was a gift, a blessing, but it could not last… When I was seven years old, everything changed thanks to those people. I will _never_ forget that day. I will _never_ forgive them.

I will never forget the screams, the wails of the dying, the fearful and pained and angry cries of my people, the feeling of terror running through my veins, the words of my Mother telling me to hide, the promise she made me make to her, the sight of the fallen, the sight of the shells that were once my kin – my family, my friends, my world – with their empty eye sockets, the stench of blood and other bodily fluids, the smell of death, or the how the ground and blood had mixed to become mud.

It's a miracle that I survived, I owe thanks to a Hunter for that I guess… I didn't know that what he had taught me would save my life. What did the Hunter teach me? He called it "Nen". After my clan's massacre I did as I promised my Mother and began to look for my brother. It has been five years and I have yet to find him. My only family left, my blond haired blue eyed brother… my big brother who lived because he was searching for a doctor for a friend. I missed him every single day.

I never knew for sure if he was alive or not, but I just had one of those gut feelings that he was and that we would meet again.

* * *

Once a year, there is an exam that takes place. If you pass you become a Hunter; Hunters are people who travel the world doing all sorts of tasks, most – if not all – dangerous. You could choose to capture criminals or search uncharted lands or look for treasures… the limit? Your own abilities, I'd say. The exam takes place every December, but the location changes. Part of the test, if you think about it, is just getting to the testing site.

Anyone can take the Hunter exam, anyone who is twelve or older.

My partner and I didn't have a whole lot of trouble finding the way to the location of the Hunter exam. We found the restaurant in Zabari City fairly easily and after having given the password were led to an elevator and I was given a badge with the number 100 on it. When the doors opened at the starting site of the exam, a tunnel under the restaurant, we found ourselves face-to-face with a group of people. I quickly put on the number tag and a man with the number tag of 16 came up to us. He introduced himself as Tonpa and offered me a drink, a can of orange juice, but I declined politely as Kage leaned against me. Tonpa just shrugged, but I could tell he really wanted me to take the drink for some reason, and told me that if I had any questions to ask him. I looked him over; slicked back brown hair, beady eyes, yellowish shirt under a green vest with yellowish pants and brownish shoes, a bit on the heavy side, square-ish nose… He looked harmless, but something told me to be wary of him and it wasn't just my animal companion.

It wasn't long until I'd found a seat on a pipe near the roof of the tunnel and was letting my blue eyes, hidden behind black contacts, roam over the other examinees as I played with my blond hair twisting it into three separate braids and then into a single larger braid and Kage stayed near me on the ground. Tonpa talked with almost every new arrival and seemed to know just about everyone. I kept a wary eye on him while observing what the others were doing. To anyone else it might seem that I was relaxed and calm and didn't have a care in the world, but in truth I was ready and watching everything I could.

After a while the elevator doors opened to reveal three people: a man, a teenager, and a boy. The man was dressed in a dark blue suit with a purple tie, black shoes, and the number tag he wore had the number 403. His hair was either dark brown or black and was spiky and his eyes were brown; he wore tea-shade sunglasses and carried a briefcase with him.

The teenager looked very familiar to me; he had short blond hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in clothes I'd know anywhere, Kurta clan styled clothes, but… maybe, maybe it was… no, there was no way I'd run into him here… he was wearing a white full-body training outfit with a blue tabard that had orange colored hem and design on it, a number tag of 404, and a pair of periwinkle flats on his feet. He also had an over the shoulder styled bag.

The boy was about my age, had spiky black hair that turned green at the points, and warm brown eyes. He was looking around in awe. His attire, from what I could tell, was made up of a green jacket with red trim, green pants, and brown green boots. He was carrying a backpack and a fishing rod. His number tag read 405.

I gave the other applicants a once over again and saw that most were looking at the three new comers. I sighed as I heard Tonpa call out to the three. "You guys bring the number up to four hundred and five. Hi, I'm Tonpa." He then jumped down from his place not too far from mine on the pipe. "I'm number sixteen this year."

"This year?" the blond asked.

"Good to meet you." He bent down slightly so he could shake hands with the youngest looking of the trio.

"I'm Gon." The boy said as he and Tonpa shook hands. "And these are my friends, Kurapika and Leorio." Tonpa shook hands with the blond with a 'hey there' and held his hand out to the guy in the suit, who just slightly waved instead, with a 'how you doing?'

Tonpa opened his mouth to speak as I jumped down with a small huff and walked over to the group as Kage followed. "You guys are rookies, aren't ya?"

"Wow, how'd you tell?" Gon asked.

"Well, I just know; this is my thirty-fifth time at the exams."

"Thirty-fifth time?" Gon echoed with a smile and a bit more than a hint of awe in his voice.

"Yeah, I guess that makes me an exam veteran." Tonpa said as he crossed his arms. "If you have any questions, I'm the guy to ask."

"Okay, thanks." Gon said, still smiling. I just slightly shook my head and moved to stand next to the blond, but none of them noticed me or Kage.

"Uh, thirty-five times? What's up with that?" Leorio asked.

"So you're the infamous Tonpa." A man behind Kurapika and Leorio stated. He wore a white shirt with pink frills down the front, a red bow, and dark blue dress pants with brown suspenders and dark shoes. His eyes were kind of beady and his black hair was parted on the side. In his hands he held a laptop computer. The number tag attached to his suspenders had the number 187.

"And you are?" Tonpa asked, "Let's see, uh…"

"I don't think you know who I am." He sounded very arrogant. "You see I'm a rookie. Number one hundred and eighty-seven, Nickolas."

"How are you doing?" Gon asked as the other three looked like they thought this 'Nickolas' person was strange. "I'm Gon."

Nickolas started typing on his computer, "Ah, here it is; Tonpa, this is your thirty-five attempt at the exam. That's the second highest ever. And you managed to make it this far to the exam hall a record of thirty times; quite the achievement."

Tonpa looked a bit proud of that, but in truth it wasn't something to be proud of – at least that's my opinion. "Yeah, I'm really good at entering but not so good at passing, obviously. I guess that makes me King of the Flunkies."

Nickolas looked a bit smug, "You're King of the Flunkies, huh? Yes, that's a very appropriate title; you know, I couldn't have said it better myself." He closed his computer, said 'excuse me,' and disappeared into the crowd.

"Rude much," I said as Leorio asked: "Could that guy be any more annoying?"

Tonpa laughed slightly, "Kick a man when he's down, huh? Unfortunately, everything he said is true. It looks like there's going to be a lot more intense competitors this year than in previous ones, check it out." He pointed towards the crowd and we all turned to look.

Someone screamed and we turned towards that direction, my eyes narrowed, and I muttered softly about how I wanted the first phase to start.

"That maniac's back again this year… Number forty-four, Hisoka the Magician." I tuned Tonpa out after that as I looked at the blue haired man with a small frown.

I tuned back in, just in time to hear about how the examiners change every year and they choose the tests and who passes or fails. The man that Tonpa called Hisoka turned around just enough that I saw that he had a teardrop under his left eye. Then a ringing sound echoed through the tunnel when it stopped a man with no visible mouth spoke. "As of this moment, the exam is closed to any further applicants. I would like to officially welcome everyone here to the Hunter exam."

"Finally it's gonna get started," Gon exclaimed.

"Ah man, I can't believe I'm actually getting nervous." Leorio said as he messed with his tie.

"Ready Kage?" I asked and got a lick to my hand as an answer.

"Please come with me," the examiner said, "Let me take a moment to remind you all that the Hunter exam is extremely demanding. If you're unprepared or unlucky, you may well be severely injured or even killed. If you are alright with accepting those risks then you may continue following me." He, and everyone who could, started walking. "Very well then, the number of applicants is four hundred and four. At least for now," he said.

The examiner began to walk faster, making a gap between him and us, and Kage began to nudge me with her nose and when I turned to her she moved so that I could easily get on without slowing down. Others began to realize what the examiner was up to as well and I quickly climbed onto Kage's back. "Steady Kage, steady girl." I said as we kept next to Gon, Leorio, Kurapika, and Tonpa.

"Sorry for the delay, but allow me to introduce myself. I'm Satotz, examiner of the first phase; I'm also the one leading you to the site of the second phase." Almost everyone was running while trying to keep up with Satotz. "Some of you may have already realized it. Keeping up with me until we reach the second phase is, in fact, the first phase."

I'm not sure how much time passed but at some point, Gon asked about how much time had passed and Tonpa asked. "It's been about thirty minutes so far."

"What a weird test." Gon said. I giggled a little at this but said nothing.

"Actually, it's designed to test our physical endurance and more." Kurapika said.

"Ah, you noticed that too, huh?" Tonpa asked.

"Noticed what?" Gon asked.

"It's to test our psychic too, right?" I asked.

"Ah, yes, see we have to keep running and running, but we don't know how far or how long. It causes a lot of mental fatigue too, just got to keep going. This is a psychological test as much as it's a physical one." Tonpa said, to which Gon made a sound of understanding as Leorio exclaimed that he could do it.

"Hey Tonpa, since this is your thirty-fifth try at this, you must know a lot of these other guys by now." Gon said and I smiled.

"Kind of," Tonpa said.

"Tell me about them. I bet all of them are really interesting." Gon said and Tonpa pointed out a few of the others and said something about them, but I didn't really care. Number 103, a snake charmer; number 76, a martial arts; number 255, a wrestler; numbers 197-199, team fighters; number 384, a hunter – like an animal hunter… that's all I really learnt since I didn't care to remember their names.

Leorio and Gon made some comments and then a boy with blue eyes and white spiky hair appeared on a teal colored skateboard with a yellow arrow on it. The boy was dressed in a maroon colored turtle-neck shirt under a lilac colored V-neck shirt with a pair of dark colored shorts and brown shoes. He had a number tag with 99 written on it pinned to his shirt. "Wow that's cool!" Gon exclaimed.

"Hey! You kid on the skateboard! That's not fair! You're cheating!" Leorio exclaimed.

"Hey, what's your name?" Gon asked, looking at the boy and then at me and smiling. "How old are you?"

"So what makes you think I'm cheating?" he asked, "And what about them?" he tilted his head towards me and my black wolf.

"Well, duh! It's an endurance test! And that's just a girl!"

"Hold your tongue," I said as Gon said: "Not exactly, the examiner said to follow him, but he didn't say how."

"Gon, who's your friend – me or him?" Leorio asked, annoyed.

"They're friends…" I heard the unnamed boy said.

I caught his eye and smiled slightly before looking over at Kurapika as he scolded them and giggled. Tonpa started to offer to answer any questions that the boy might have and stopped as he got a dark glare from him. He then let his skateboard move closer to Gon, who asked, "What's up?"

"You asked what my name was?"

"Yeah, well, you don't have to tell me if you don't feel like it. I'm Gon and I'm twelve."

"Oh, twelve years old…" he muttered before grabbing his skateboard and starting to run as I patted Kage and hopped off.

"Hey, you're not using that anymore?" Gon asked.

"Mister, how old are you?" he asked Leorio.

"Mister?" Leorio repeated, "I'm not all that much older than you all, I'll have you know!"

"No way!" most of the five of us exclaimed.

I moved next to Gon and got his attention. "What's up?" he asked.

"You wanted to know who I am?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"I'm Kisa, age twelve." I said then motioned to the black wolf next to me, "This is Kage."

"Wow, how'd you-"

"Kage is family and hasn't let anyone but me ride her before and I'm not sure why." I smiled as Kage let out as much as a laugh as a wolf can.

We all kept running and Leorio didn't talk to Gon for a while because he had been among us who doubted Leorio's declaration of not being that much older. Leorio, Gon, and Tonpa started talking. Gon started it by wondering aloud about the boy we'd 'met', which turned into Leorio wondering what would happen if we turned right instead of left, and then Gon mentioned a sweet smell. Three hours later, Gon mentioned the sweet smell again and Tonpa stated his opinion that it smelt like a sap to him and Leorio started to fall behind and coming to a stop. Gon, Kurapika, Tonpa, the white haired boy, Kage, and I all stopped. "Leorio," Gon called.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? He's finished so just leave him behind," the still unnamed boy asked as the other applicants passed us.

"Come on, you don't know that. Besides I can't just leave him. He's my friend." Gon reasoned.

"Your friend?" I saw the boy's eyes widen.

"Uh-huh, that's what I said."

"I'm not giving up!" Leorio said between pants. "I came here to become a Hunter and that's what I'm gonna do!" The others continued to talk as I began petting Kage and waited for them to reach a decision. Tonpa and Leorio ended up heading back towards the other tunnel and I frowned. I climbed onto Kage's back and we started following Tonpa and Leorio while the other three talked. Not long after Kurapika and Gon caught up to Kage and I.

"I don't trust that man," I whispered to Kage as we found Tonpa lying face down on the ground just outside the right tunnel where the sweet smell was coming from and Gon called out to Tonpa. Tonpa slowly and shakily got into a knelling position and pretended to be scared and then glad that it was Gon and us who had found him. Tonpa told us that it was a trap when Kurapika asked. Kage and I stayed behind with Tonpa as the other two headed into the tunnel. Tonpa paled as I glared and Kage growled and showed her teeth. "Down Kage," Kage stopped growling and barring her fangs which made Tonpa look a bit better until I continued, "he doesn't look like he would taste too good, but then again… you've eaten other things that didn't look too yummy and seemed to enjoy them." I smirked as Kage seemed to chuckle and Tonpa looked about ready to pee his pants. We then turned and headed into the tunnel and left Tonpa staring after us. We passed a freaky Nickolas before we caught up to Gon with Kurapika over his shoulder. Kage let us put Kurapika onto her back, I thought I saw red eyes, and we continued on in search of Leorio while I questioned if I had been really seeing Kurapika with red eyes or if it was my imagination. Not too long after that Kurapika started struggling and the white haired boy showed up and kicked him in the face which woke the blond boy up.

"Kurapika?" Gon and I asked.

"Gon? Kisa?"

"Good, you're back to normal, but ah…" Gon said but trailed off as we all turned to the white haired boy.

"There is no healing cedar tree."

"Huh?" Gon and Kurapika spoke in simultaneously.

I sighed and shared a look with Kage before muttering, "I should've let you eat him, Kage."

"The sap comes from the tree of hallucination, it's been used by assassins for a long time; it makes its victims re-experience the worse events of their lives and eventually drives them insane." He said.

"How do you know that?" Gon asked.

"So that means that Tonpa must have…" Kurapika trailed off.

"Yeah, that's right. He set you all up." Kurapika made a noise of frustration.

"We should go." Gon said.

"Sure, okay. I think I know a way we can save a little time and get your friend back in a single move." The white haired boy said. "The game's no fun unless you take some risk."

"I'm glad we met up again." Gon spoke, "Are you going to tell me your name now?"

"Killua," the white haired boy said.

"Killua?" Gon repeated and the boy in front of him nodded. "Okay, Killua, tell us your idea."

Killua pulled something out of his pocket and showed it to us, "It's a bomb, small but effective."

"That's a bomb?" Gon asked as he looked at the small gray cylinder that sat in the palm of Killua's hand.

"Let's blow up this wall and all this disgusting sap covering it." Kurapika and Gon gasped while I smirked.

"Not a bad idea." I said as Killua tossed it up into the air and caught it. Kurapika and Gon looked at me for a bit before we started moving again. We blew up one wall and ended up landing on Leorio.

"It worked, not the easiest way to travel but it is fast. I guess there's no turning back now." Kurapika said before Leorio sat up muttering words of pain.

"Gon? Kurapika?" he looked around slightly, "Pietro?"

"You were hallucinating as a result of inhaling the sap; Tonpa fooled us all." Kurapika said.

"Hallucinating? So that's what that was." Leorio looked away from the two before looking back at them, "Looks like I owe you guys one for saving my butt, but how did you manage to avoid it?"

"It was a close call for me," Kurapika said.

"I was fine; I didn't feel a thing." Gon said and I moved into Leorio's sight.

"Kisa? You're here too?" Leorio asked and I nodded.

"Hey old man, we don't have time to sit around chatting." Killua said.

"Old man? Hey what are you-?"

"His name is Killua," Gon and I said.

"Ready for the next round?" Killua asked as he held up three more bombs. There was a 'click'.

"What was that? I heard a click?" Leorio asked and followed the bombs with his eyes as Killua threw them. "There bombs?" he exclaimed as they blew up. The wall blew up and we moved through the hole that was made and landing among the examinees on the other side.

"What exactly is going on here?" Satotz asked.

Gon answered him, "Uh, ha-ha-ha, I'm sorry but we had to break through the wall."

"I never said you couldn't destroy the wall, but tell me how is it that you survived after wondering down the tunnel of hallucination? I'm quite impressed."

"I can't believe it; where'd they get the rookie from this year anyways?" Tonpa spoke as we stood up. Leorio then marched over to him and grabbed a fist-full of his shirt.

"How dare you? I've got a score to settle with you." Leorio said.

"Stop it, Leorio."

"No way, doesn't this guy just piss you off?"

"The test always has obstacles to overcome." Leorio groaned in frustration and let go of Tonpa.

The first phase of the exam continued. Satotz told us that he was going to pick up the pace since we were getting close to the final stretch. In front of me Gon thanked Killua, who then claimed this was just a game to him, and behind me Kurapika and Leorio talked and I just shook my head at how odd the doctor-to-be looked without his shirt or jacket on… why he kept the tie on I don't really care to know.

"Hey it's the exit," Gon claimed and Kage and I moved forward to run next to the two.

"You seem happy."

"Yeah, aren't you, Killua? Kisa?"

"Not really, it's just an exit. This test was so boring it didn't feel like a game at all." Killua said.

"I guess in a way I am," I said as I hopped onto Kage's back.

"Yeah, but it means we're one step closer to becoming Hunters." Gon said with a smile.

"Why do you want to become a Hunter so badly?"

"My Dad's a Hunter, that's why. I heard he's one of the best in the whole world."

"You heard?"

"Yeah, you see, I was raised by my aunt and I only know my Dad from a picture I had. But that doesn't bother me; I wanna become a Hunter just like him. About that board, would you let me try it sometime? Maybe?" Killua looked surprised before smiling.

"Yeah; if you let me use your fishing rod, Gon."

"What about me? Would you let me try it?" I asked.

"Sure," they both said. I smiled and then we were outside, looking at a marsh.

"Wow."

"These are the Numere Wetlands, known to many as Swindler's Swamp. We've got to make it through there in order to reach the site for the second phase. There are many creatures unique to these wetlands, they are crafty and various; they'll try to deceive you and make you their next meal." Satotz said before the tunnel was closed off and we couldn't turn back. "Follow me and stay focused, if you are deceived you are as good as dead."

"That doesn't make much sense." Leorio said. "How can they deceive us when we already know that that's what they're trying to do?"

"He's lying!" Someone yelled and we all turned to look. "Don't listen to him!" It was a guy who looked like he'd been in a fight and had a monkey with a human face in a bag. "He's not an examiner! He's an impostor; the real examiner is me!"

"An impostor? What's going on here?" Leorio asked.

Kage started to growl at the new comer but stopped as I placed a hand her shoulder.

"Yeah, then who've we been following?" a bald man, number 294, said.


	2. CONJURER X SMILE X BEASTS BEWARE

(A/N: Congrats to Lani0108, you are right about Kisa's brother being Kurapika. The reason she hasn't figured it out herself is because she only got a small, quick peek at his eyes when they were scarlet and she started questioning if what she had seen was real or just her imagination; she doesn't want to jump to conclusions and worries that she might be seeing things that she remembers about her brother onto a stranger and thus questions the reality of the matter and instead of just asking.)

* * *

**Moonlight Heart**

**A Hunter x Hunter Fanfiction**

**CONJURER X SMILE X BEASTS BEWARE**

* * *

We stood there some of us looking at the new comer, some looking at Satotz, and some looking between the two.

"He's a fraud?" someone asked. People began whispering and muttering and a few looked totally freaked, I noticed as I looked around. Hisoka, though, looked a bit happy with this turn of events and I tilted my head.

"If he's not the real examiner then who is?" someone else asked.

"Kage, stay with Killua and Gon." I said before walking over to Hisoka, who turned his head just enough to see me as I stopped next to him.

"Kisa~chan, you're taking the Hunter exam this year?" Hisoka said with a smile that was a bit on the creepy side.

"Hisoka-nii, it looks like you were right; we did meet again before my thirteenth birthday." His smile widened and lost some of its creepiness.

"Ah, that's true. How have you been, Kisa~chan?" he asked as I took it his appearance. His hair was blue and spiked backwards to make a triangle like shape just like the last time I'd seen him. His gold eyes watched everything, but I could tell that a lot of his attention was on Gon and me. He had a maroon star on his right cheek and a spring green teardrop on his left cheek. He wore a purple shirt, with the clubs and spades suit symbols on the front and the diamonds and hearts suit symbols on the back, and pants; three pink bands wrapped around his throat, his wrists, his upper arms, and more than three pink bands wrapped around his middle; he had some yellow thing around his waist; and he wore purple shoes with gray wrappings covering his legs. He had on a number tag that had the number 44 on it.

"Hey you," Leorio said to the new guy, "Are you making this up or what? Can you prove this guy's an impostor?"

"Take a look at this!" he said as he threw the bag onto the ground, it opened to reveal a monkey with a human face. I wrinkled my nose at the sight and narrowed my eyes… something was off about this guy.

"What is that thing?" Some yelled.

"Is it a magical beast?" and someone made a comment about the creature's face and another person commented on how the examiner's face and the monkey's looked alike.

"Yeah, that's right. This is a man-faced-ape, one of the creatures that live in these wetlands. They disguise themselves as humans in order to lure in and trap their prey; this guy is no examiner, he's one of them! He wants to kill and eat every last one of you! That was his plan all along!" There were several comments made after that that showed that people trusted this stranger that we'd just met.

"I don't believe this new person and neither does Kage." I said, "I'll see you later, Hisoka-nii." I then turned and walked back over to Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Kage."

"So, what do you think? Is this part of the Hunter exam?" Gon asked and everyone turned to him.

"Exam?" Leorio asked before asking some other questions that made me look at him like he was weird.

"Kage?" I asked as she growled lowly, a warning, and I missed some of the conversation.

"That won't prove anything; he stole my card! He jumped me and took everything I had!" the new guy exclaimed while pointing at Satotz.

"So you say." Kurapika said.

"Well, what now? Even having the license doesn't prove anything." Leorio said before Hisoka threw three playing cards towards the new guy and Satotz. Satotz caught them easily but the other guy didn't and had three cards sticking out of his face as he fell backwards.

"I see, I see," Hisoka said as he messed with the other cards.

"What'd you do that for?" Leorio exclaimed.

"Much faster than arguing about it," Hisoka said, "don't you think?" Then the man-faced-ape got up and tried to run away and Hisoka threw another card and it fell. "I guess that settles it. You are the real thing, examiner. Anyone worthy of being a Hunter would have no trouble dodging a simple attack like that one."

"I'll take that as a compliment, but from now on any attack directed at an examiner will be considered insubordination which is ground for immediate disqualification. Do I make myself clear?" Satotz spoke.

"Of course," Hisoka said and it wasn't long after that we were heading into the wetlands.

The muddy ground made it hard for running but it wasn't long before we were surrounded by fog and I lost sight of Killua and Gon, who were somewhere in front of me, and Kurapika and Leorio, who were somewhere behind me. Before long Kage and I caught up with Killua and Gon and the three brothers that were behind them. "Killua-kun, Gon-kun," I said as Kage let out a small whine.

"Kisa," Gon said happily before yelling back at Leorio and Kurapika that we should move forward. We could hear screams from somewhere behind us and the three brothers commented on how there was no one following us.

"Kurapika… Leorio…" Gon and I said as we kept moving.

"Gon, Kisa, you need to think about yourself right now. In this fog if we lose the leaders we're out; the best you can hope for is that you won't hear the screams of your friends as they die."

"They will not die, Killua." I said, a dark look appearing on my face as I climbed onto Kage, whistled, and Kage and I disappeared back towards Leorio and Kurapika. When I got to where Kurapika and Leorio were, I saw Hisoka killing examinees with a single card as Leorio, Kurapika, and someone else watched. Kage moved us over to the three and let out a low growl at Hisoka.

"All of you have failed," Hisoka said to the dead or dying men. "It looks like you four are the only ones who managed to survive." Hisoka said to us after turning around.

"Damn you," Leorio said.

"I guess you're up next," Hisoka said as he looked at Leorio.

"When I give the signal, run in different directions," number 53 said.

"What's that?" Leorio replied.

"This guy's brutal; even the most cold blooded serial killers experience a moment of hesitation before killing someone, but he doesn't."

"Yeah, he's right. We have zero chance of beating Hisoka in a fight, our only choice is to run." Kurapika said.

"How can you say that without giving it a shot?" Leorio inquired angrily.

"You three made it this far so I know you must really want to become a Hunter and I do too; I know this is humiliating but we have to run." The guy with the purple hat, Leorio, and Kurapika took off in different directions while I stayed behind.

"Oh, I get it; that's a wise decision. As a reward, I'll give you a ten second head start." He counted to ten, "Let's see which one of you shall I go after first?"

"Hisoka-nii," I said.

"Kisa~chan," Hisoka turned to me with a smile.

"Leave them be." I said before Leorio appeared with a stick in his right hand and his tie tied around the wound on his left arm.

"Why?" Hisoka asked me before turning his attention to the doctor-to-be.

"Because they're my friends," I said before Leorio was close enough to hear my words.

"I see," Hisoka said.

"I couldn't do it after all," Leorio said when he was close enough to us.

"Does this mean you surrender?" Hisoka asked.

"Nope, just the opposite; I'm not the kind of guy who runs off with his tail between his legs and certainly not without a fight." Leorio claimed before attacking Hisoka with a horizontal swing of his stick that Hisoka jumped over. "Hey!" Leorio yelled before attacking again, but with a vertical swing. Hisoka countered with throwing a card that cut the stick into one… no, two… three… four… five… six pieces – the large one that Leorio had in his hands and five smaller pieces. Leorio's eyes widened as Hisoka appeared behind him; Leorio tried to hit Hisoka while turning to face him, missed, and got hit a few times.

"Such a handsome face," Hisoka said as he grabbed Leorio's jaw with his left hand. "I like how the shadow of death has replaced the fire-y spirit in your eyes. Positively spine chilling, but now this is the end for you. Farewell." Hisoka moved to end Leorio's life with a card.

"Hisoka! Stop it!" I yelled before Hisoka was hit in the head with a fishing lure that was attached to Gon's fishing rod.

"Oh, that's pretty good for a boy."

"Huh?"

"Leave them alone, Hisoka!"

"A fishing rod for a weapon? Interesting. You wouldn't mind if I had a look at it, would you? I promise I'll give it right back." Hisoka started walking towards Gon, who was trembling. "Come on."

"Listen clown! Your fight is with me!" Leorio rushed at Hisoka.

"No! Get away from him!" I yelled, but it was too late and Leorio received a punch to the face from Hisoka which made Gon attack Hisoka and miss.

Hisoka caught Gon by wrapping a hand around his neck and I whispered a plan into Kage's ear. "Aw-ha-ha, did you come back hoping to rescue your friends?" Hisoka asked and got a glare from Gon, who couldn't speak. "What a nice kid." There was a tense silence before Hisoka spoke again with a not creepy smile on his face. "I'd say you pass," he let go of Gon. "My goodness, did you come to the rescue as well?" Hisoka asked Kurapika, who I'd just noticed standing not even three feet from me. "I'm impressed; it must be nice to have such good friends." Kurapika looked at Leorio, who lay on the ground and was moving his fingers, before we all focused on Hisoka as a cell phone began to ring. Hisoka answered his phone, had a _very_ brief talk, hung up, and picked up Leorio. Gon called out to the dark haired man. "No need to worry, I haven't killed your friend; after all, he passed as well."

"What are you talking about?" Gon asked, anger filled his words, and he looked ready to attack.

"Hm?"

"Put him down right now."

"If you really want him back, you'll have to catch me first." Hisoka stated before taking off into the fog. Gon then fell to his knees as he tried to calm his breathing.

"Gon, are you alright?" Kurapika asked as he rushed over to the boy.

I had Kage stop next to Gon, "I'm sorry about Hisoka; that's just how he is." Gon and Kurapika looked at me, I could feel their glaze(s) on me, but kept looking after Hisoka-nii.

"You speak as if you know him well." Kurapika said and I could hear the mistrust in his voice.

"Hisoka is like a brother to me, but he can never take my _real_ brother's place." I said as the three of us started to move. Gon and Kage lead the way and Kurapika and I learnt that Gon has a _very_ good sense of smell. I sighed sadly at the trail of dead animals that we followed. "Darn Hisoka-nii, he didn't really need to kill them, even if it makes it easy for us to follow…"

"But we should still be careful, Hisoka is devious. There's no way of knowing what his intentions are; he might've just let us go so that he could try hunting us down one more time." Kurapika said.

"Yeah, but still we can't just leave Leorio, right?" Gon asked before a creature popped up before us and Gon jumped on it, "Sorry," he called as he jumped off it while the rest of us followed. "After the fight back there, Hisoka said that me and Leorio passed; what do you think he meant?"

"He said he was playing an examiner, which probably means he's testing us." Kurapika said and I nodded to show my agreement.

"You think so?" Gon asked. "All he ever did was stare at me."

"Yeah, but that was after you struck him in the head."

"Oh, that's right. But then again, Leorio didn't have a chance against him and he still told him that he passed."

"His speed and strength is super human, he's obviously some kind of a master; I've never seen anything like it in my life. He's definitely in a league of his own. An experienced fighter can often sense things like the skill level, strength, and natural ability of his opponent the moment they first make physical contact. It's possible that Hisoka believed that you and Leorio were worth opponents because your scent may be like his own."

"The same scent…" Gon said.

"Yeah, if it's the same, he might have thought 'why kill you now when you could be of use later?' Oh, uh, sorry, I didn't mean to be insensitive." Kurapika said as we came to a stop.

"No, it's okay; Killua said the same thing. He said that he was like Hisoka because of _his_ scent."

"Gon, you are nothing like Hisoka. If it were up to me, someone like him would never be allowed to become a Hunter." Kurapika said.

"I wonder," Gon said before I jumped off Kage and hugged him.

"Gon," Kurapika and I said at the same time.

"You know when Hisoka towards me, all I wanted to do was run but I couldn't move and at that moment I thought 'this is it, this is the end for me;' I was on the edge of life and death and I could've been killed, but it's strange…" I let go of Gon and he started running again and we followed, "it kinda felt kinda exciting."

"Uh, Gon?" Kurapika asked as we took off after the spiky haired boy.

When we arrived at the location of the next phase of the exam, Satotz pointed a gun at the sky, and shot a single bullet into the air. "Okay that's it, you've all done very well; this is the Visca Forest Reserve, the site for the second phase."

"That was close, we made it just in time." Kurapika said.

"Do you see Leorio and Hisoka?" Gon asked before seeing him; Hisoka pointed at a tree and we turned to see Leorio. Gon and Kurapika headed over to him while I went over to Hisoka.

"Baka Hisoka-nii," I said and heard him chuckle.

"Now, now, Kisa~chan. I was only-"

"I don't care. They are my friends, leave them be." I didn't wait for an answer before heading over to join Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio as Satotz started to tell us that we passed. It's hard to believe that a total of 148 of the original 404/405 passed. I'm sure that all of us could hear the growling sound of a stomach as we all waited for the second phase of the exam to start. We stood in front of a pretty big building as we waiting for the doors to open and reveal the examiner(s).


	3. MENCHI X FURIOUS X SECOND PHASE?

(A/N: Okay, Misty April, so you said that you thought the story needed more personal emotion; thanks for the review. I can understand what you meant, but there is a reason for the little amount of emotion that Kisa shows in the first two chapters; it'll be explained later on as the story progresses. I do hope that this chapter is better in your opinion, though.

Thanks to all who have reviewed thus far, I do appreciate it; seeing as it tells me how I'm doing and if I need to make changes or not and overall helps me become better as a writer and makes the story more enjoyable for the reader as the feedback helps make the story be... better? more well written? higher quality? something like that...

Sorry for the rambling... On with the story!)

* * *

**Moonlight Heart**

**A Hunter x Hunter Fanfiction**

**MENCHI X FURIOUS X SECOND PHASE?**

* * *

As we stood waiting for the second phase to begin, I found myself wondering what the next part of the exam would be like. Would we have to catch something? Would we have to make something? What would the examiner or examiners - I guess it would be possible to have more than one person giving us a test at a time, right? - be like? We wouldn't have to fight each other, right? At least, I hoped we wouldn't have to fight amongst ourselves in this phase.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even notice when the doors opened. Kage had to almost push me over to get my attention without interrupting what was being said around us; she pushed me so hard that I did, in fact, fall over but I grabbed onto the person next to me to stop my fall. Luckily, that didn't send both of us to the ground. Unfortunately, I had latched onto Killua and he looked at me like I was weird while I quickly let go of him and I could feel my face heating up. "Stupid Kage," I muttered as I glared at the … smirking wolf… is it even possible for wolves to smirk?

"Whatever," I heard Killua say before I turned my attention to the pink haired girl and the _huge_ man who were talking in front of us from their places just inside the building.

"Thanks for waiting," the pink haired girl said and I saw that she had blue eyes. "Buhara, how are you feeling now? Hungry?" She tilted her head back to look up at the man behind her as his… stomach growled? How the heck did he get to be so _big_? And I don't mean big as in just like that he was _big around_ but to say that he was _freaking tall too_.

"Yeah, Menchi, I think anyone with ears can hear that I'm starving." The big guy, Buhara, said to the girl… The girl – pink hair; is that her natural hair color? And how would that work? Is it even genetically possible to have natural pink hair? – had her hair up in five top knots. And on top of that she was dressed in a bikini top with a mesh shirt over it and some denim shorts and two knifes on a belt and a pair of boots. While, Buhara had short black hair and was wearing a green-blue shirt and greenish pants and no shoes…

I blinked twice, these were the examiners? Well, okay, but that didn't explain why I suddenly felt like I was going to need a lot of kitchen equipment… like maybe a stove or some skillets… or something… oh, no, no, nonononono… Please no cooking? Please, oh please, don't make the test be cooking. I probably had a look of horror on my face as I mentally prayed that it wouldn't be a cooking test.

"As you might of guessed, us two Gourmet Hunters are in charge of judging the second phase." Menchi said.

"Gourmet Hunters?" Leorio repeated.

"What's that?" asked Gon.

"Gourmet Hunters travel around the world collecting all sorts of exotic ingredients; they then use them to make new and innovative dishes that have never been tasted. Before becoming Hunters most of them were gourmet chefs." Kurapika said and I couldn't help but think that he sounded a lot like he was reading from a dictionary.

"So this phase…" Number 294, a bald guy who claimed to be a ninja, said.

"Right, so the subject for this phase is cooking." Menchi said.

I felt like falling to my hands and knees and crying, but settled for just hanging my head and whimpering while everyone else exclaimed "cooking?" and one guy said that he hadn't come to cook.

Menchi didn't like these reactions, she pointed at him as she spoke. "If you don't like it then you can go ahead and leave right now." He looked taken aback at this, but didn't say anything. "Does anyone else want to complain about the test? If so, you can do it on your way home." There was a lot of muttering, but no one really spoke up. "That's funny; I don't seem to hear any objections now."

"So, uh, what kind of food are we going to have to cook?" the ninja guy asked.

"First of all, you're going to have to cook whatever I decide to order." Buhara said.

"Only those of you, who manage to fill his order, will be asked to prepare a dish of my choice after that. What it all comes down to is this: if we both think that the food you made is delicious, you pass."

"Hey, that's not fair! What tastes great to me, may taste like garbage to someone else!" Number 255, the guy Menchi pointed at before, exclaimed.

"Yeah, how are we supposed to know what you like? We might make you the most delicious food ever and still might get kicked out!" Someone else yelled, which led to almost everyone yelling again. Although, I didn't really hear anything from Killua, Gon, Kurapika, or Leorio; I was sure that they weren't too happy with this turn of events either. I hate cooking; don't get me wrong, I know how to cook and am at least decent at it… I just don't like to cook. Kage, standing next to me, stepped closer so as to press her side against me. I smiled at her in a thankful way so as to tell her that I knew she had my back.

Menchi stood up from her spot on the orange couch and clapped her hands. "Alright, that's enough." Her voice rang out over everyone else's. "Like I just said a minute ago, if you have any objections about taking this test, you're welcome to go home right now. And good riddance to ya."

"Ah, come on!" Leorio exclaimed, "There's no way I'm turning back after coming this far!" I heard several people echo or agree with him before some people started arguing.

"I just want to get this over with…" I muttered as I glared at the ground, unhappy with having to cook but not willing to back out of the exam.

"Um, is there anything else we should know?" Gon asked. That was a good question, really.

"Basically, all you need to know is that you don't pass until we say 'delicious.' Bear in mind that this phase is over as soon as the two of us are full from eating."

"Looks like Buhara could eat a ton," Ninja boy said, "but I bet Menchi will get full pretty quick. That factor alone should cut this group down to size."

"Yeah, that seems true enough," I said before blinking twice and staring at Leorio in disbelief; how could he have never cooked in his life? Wait, never mind, that shouldn't have surprised me.

"I never expected a test like this." Kurapika said and I sighed, at least I had accepted the possibility of it… even if I had hoped there would be no cooking tests.

"I know how to cook," Gon said.

"You serious?" Leorio asked. "What can you make?"

"Hmm, I can make a lot of different stuff, but my specialty is Macaroni and cheese!"

"Macaroni… and cheese?" Leorio asked while looking surprised.

I giggled as Kurapika tried to be nice. "Well, I, uh, I guess you could call that cooking."

Leorio laughed as he covered his eyes, "Come on, it doesn't take much of a chef to make a simple dish like that."

"Hey, that's not true -" Gon and I said together.

"Aunt Mito always said no one could make it like me!"

"Jeana can't make it; she just ends up burning water!"

"I'm sure she's right, maybe you can make it for me some time."

"Me too," Kurapika said before turning to me. "Who's Jeana?"

"Jeana is one of my adopted sisters; she can't cook at all." I replied before Buhara started to talk. I could just feel that the others were wondering about what I had said – about how I'd said that she was my adopted sister; Jeana's family took me in about five years ago.

"Okay, listen up! My order is… a whole roasted pig!" he said as he started to drool and his cheeks turned kind of pink.

Everyone started to echo his words and look surprised, while I just felt my eyebrow begin to twitch. What the heck? A whole pig? So we have to catch a pig, kill it, and cook it? Great, just great.

"It's my absolute favorite. And living in the forest is the Great Stamp, the most ferocious and delicious pig of 'em all."

"The Great Stamp?" almost everyone echoed him before the ground started to shake.

"Uh-oh…" I whispered as Kage growled; turning to my left, towards the direction of a lot of squealing noises, I caught a glimpse of some wild pigs as they rushed towards us. "Oh… crud…" I said before jumping out of the way with Kage as several others got sent flying into the air.

"Let the second phase begin," Menchi said.

I quickly climbed onto Kage's back and we raced after one of the pigs. I knew the others would be after their own wild pigs soon, but I didn't bother to look to see what they were doing… then again based on the sounds I could hear, I'd guess that at least a few people were being chased by the Great Stamps instead of doing the chasing.

Focusing my attention onto the task at hand, I sighed and slightly tightened my grip on some of Kage's fur; she sped up and lunged at the pig, attacking with her fangs and claws, and let out a feral growl. The pig let out a squeal and tried to escape us by running into the forest, but that was a fatal mistake for it. The forest was Kage's element; we sped after it, and true to Kage's name, she moved like a shadow. Even with my white training outfit and purple sleeveless, strapless dress-like top over it with a black sash-like belt around my middle and ebony flats, we faded into the shadows of the vegetation and quickly trapped the supposed fierce creature. The Great Stamp had found a dead end and we blocked the only exit. The wild pig turned to us and I could see its fear. "Kage," her ears flicked back towards me as she waited for the command that followed, "Final..."

When Kage and I took the wild pig we'd roasted to Buhara to fill his order, I noticed that most of those who had caught a Great Stamp were cooking them. In fact, when we reached Buhara only two others had finished cooking and were lined up in front of the giant of a man. It was appalling to watch Buhara eat, by the time he was done with one of the roasted Great Stamps it was not but bones. I felt like I'd be sick and it would definitely be a while before I could even look at a pig, cooked or not, again.

Kage let out a whine after we had heard Buhara tell us 'delicious' and I nodded towards the forest. "Go, but be swift; who knows what Menchi's order will be like." I said before looking at the line that had formed in front of Buhara. He was still eating and after every pig - whether it was undercooked, overcooked, or somewhere in between – he would say 'delicious.' Oh, lord, it really was going to be a long, long, _long_ time before I could be anywhere near a pig.

With any luck, Menchi's order would have nothing to do with pork.

When Buhara was full, Menchi rang a gong to signal the end of the first part of the test given to us. "Alright, that's it; seventy whole roasted wild pigs have been consumed." Menchi said, and a lot of the others looked as disgusted and surprised as I felt. Well, so 70 people out of 148 examinees passed half of the second phase, but how many of us could satisfy this girl? Somehow I got the feeling that very few, maybe even no one, would be able to please Menchi; I just didn't know how right I was going to be…

"Ugh, that guy's a monster," I heard ninja-boy say.

"That was incredible! Hunters really are amazing, don't you think?" Gon asked.

Killua, standing next to him, scratched his cheek as he replied, "Yeah, I guess you could say that. But I never wanna become like him."

"I don't either." I said as Kage let out a yip of agreement and moved to take up a protective stance that would cover my back and my right side.

"I don't get it, something's wrong. How is it possible for him to eat so much more than his own body weight?" Kurapika said and Leorio answered him.

"Not everything's a conspiracy, you know."

"You're hopeless; you were supposed to evaluate them for flavor and preparation too you know. Are you really going to pass each and every one of them?" Menchi said.

"Bah, who cares? The number of applicants has gone down a bit, besides this test was never really about flavor anyway." Buhara retorted.

"You shouldn't go easy on them; you're a Gourmet Hunter, you have a reputation to live up to. We're expected to uphold certain standers. Well, you've left me no choice," Menchi said before ringing the gong again, "The whole roasted pig round is over; all seventy submissions have passed!"

Those who passed, with the exception of a few of us – like Kage and I, started to cheer with happiness. I just smiled slightly before taking to make my face go completely blank; the key word is 'try' because I found it really hard to keep a straight blank face with someone like Gon hugging you.

"Beware, I won't be as easy to please as Buhara; I can be a very harsh critic." Menchi said as the cheering calmed down and Gon let go of me – more like leapt away. He learnt that Kage doesn't take too kindly to people getting too close to me… like people she doesn't know too well just randomly hugging me… I mouthed 'sorry' to Gon and gave Kage a scolding look as Gon rubbed his hand; Kage had bitten it, lucky for him that she bit with just enough force for him to feel it but not break the skin. He smiled and waved his hand slightly as Kage looked a little bit like she was sorry. "For the next part of this phase, you'll be filling my order which is sushi." Menchi said as she paced slightly in front of us with her hands on her hips.

"Sushi?" I heard many echo, confusion was evident in their voices. I frowned as I looked around. Several people were asking one another if they had any ideas on what it was.

I sighed; of course, it had to be a dish that my adoptive sister, Minna, absolutely loved. Too bad I'd never asked her to teach me how to make it, but at least I knew what the ingredients were that went into making it.

Menchi chuckled as she listened to everyone, "You guys look pretty stressed out, but I don't blame you for not knowing what it is. Sushi is an ethnic dish from a small island country. I'll give you a little hint, inside you'll find your work stations," Menchi motioned towards the open doors behind her and we all went to see what she was talking about. "Here's where you'll prepare the dish. Each station has all the essential tools and ingredients; I've even prepared the rice for you which is necessary to make sushi. And now for one final hint, I'm particularly fond of hand-molded nigiri sushi. Alright, you guys can get started; this test will conclude as soon as I'm full." Menchi stated. "Until then you can serve me as many pieces as you want."

"So is it just made of rice or what?" Gon asked as Killua picked up one of the knives that rested on the cutting board in front of him at his station, tossed it into the air, and caught it by the handle.

I sighed and shook my head, "Show off…" The work stations were simple: a countertop, a cupboard, a sink, a cutting board, at least three different knives, a knife sharper, and some ingredients and other little tools that might come in handy – like plates, vinegar, salt, pepper, etc.

"Judging from the tools, I'd say we need more than that." Killua answered Gon's question.

"Yeah, we do." I said before looking around, wondering if there was anyone who knew how to put the needed ingredients together; sure, I knew what sushi was and what ingredients went together to make it, but I'd never made it before. Maybe it'd be possible to make it based off of what'd I'd seen Minna do. Either way, I'd need to get some fish and soon. Everyone was looking over their tools, looking around, or talking to others near them, but one person really caught my eye. Number 294, the ninja-wanna-be – well, I had no proof that said if he was or wasn't a ninja so… until I could get my hands on some solid proof I thought that it was an accurate description of him, was looking around with this smug look on his face and I was almost positive he knew how to make the dish. I think Minna had said it was a dish from Jappon… I ignored the questioning looks I got from the two as I tried to remember what I'd seen Minna do.

Leorio and Kurapika were talking, but I ignored them and headed outside and into the forest. I whistled and Kage came running; together we headed to a nearby river and started catching fish before everyone else came running out and tried their luck. So someone had probably spilled the beans about fish being needed. Oh, well, not like anyone really knew what to do with the fish…

After getting several fish to use, we headed back to our stations to work on making the sushi.

I'm sad to say that no one passed this test… It seems that only the bald guy – number 294 – and I were the only ones to know anything really about the dish… but no matter what anyone did, Menchi said 'disgusting.' I don't think she really cared if anyone passed or not…

But I can say that it was funny to see Kurapika's face when he was compared to Leorio; they gave Menchi the same dish. It was after that that Hanzo – the Ninja-boy, I learnt it when we went to present our dishes to Menchi – and I took our attempts at the dish to Menchi and she seemed pleased when she saw them, but was not satisfied with the taste…

I felt like crying, while Hanzo yelled at Menchi and told everyone how to make the dish at the same time… and pissing off Menchi who started yelling at him. After that, everyone else took a dish to Menchi and by the time she had finished with them, she was full.

"So then what happens now?" Hanzo asked.

"Like I said, when I'm full the test is over. And this time, no one passed. Thank you, come again." Menchi said with a smile and a wave. No one was happy with that answer.

"This is not going to end well," I said, Gon and Killua both nodded as we looked around at the others.


	4. FAILING X PANIC X HEAVENLY VOICE Part 1

(A/N: OH MY GOSH! I'M SO SORRY! T^T I've been sooooooo busy with school and trying to edit Dear Journal that I've not had time to really work on anything else. I was going to wait until I had all of chapter 4 done but... seeing as how long it has been since I've been able to work on this story, I thought it might just be better to post this part and upload the other part later. Please don't hate me for this *continues to cry*

Also, Misty April, I'm very glad that you approve of Kisa's outfit.)

(Disclaimer: [I'm sorry for not posting this on every chapter but this is the last chapter in Moonlight Heart that I'm posting with a disclaimer attached to; I mean, it's posted on a site for Fans to post their FAN-fictions.] I don't own Hunter x Hunter, the Manga, or the anime (that includes the 1999 and 2011 versions and any other versions they decide to make).)

* * *

**Moonlight Heart**

**A Hunter x Hunter Fanfiction**

**FAILING X PANIC X HEAVENLY VOICE**

**Part One**

* * *

"This must be a joke; how can every one of us fluke out?" Leorio asked.

"Yeah, it's so stupid." Killua agreed as he moved his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

"This isn't right; the exam shouldn't be allowed to end like this." Gon said.

"I've not sure I've ever heard of no one passing the Hunter exam before." I said.

"How many times do I simply don't care! Just tell the commission what I said, okay? My decision is final!" Menchi yelled into her cell phone.

"Sorry but Menchi can get this way whenever food is involved; it's like she loses her mind."

"Buhara! Keep your mouth shut, alright?" Menchi yelled. "Yeah, well, I'm the one who's supposed to be judging this part of the exam! So what's the problem?" The overheard some people talking about how they couldn't believe that they were being failed just because they don't know how to cook. I let out a sigh as I realized that things were about to go south, well further south… "There's no way I'm gonna change my decision, you understand? Nobody is passing the second phase cooking test! Nobody!" And before anything else could come out of Menchi's mouth, Gon took her cell phone.

"Excuse me, can you hold on for just a second?" Gon asked the person on the other end of the line.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Give me that thing!" Menchi shrieked as she snatched her phone back.

"Listen, I have to pass the Hunter exam or else I might never get the chance to see my Father!"

"Oh really? Well, that's unfortunate. But guess what, I'm the examiner and that means I have the authority to decide who passes and who fails. Is that clear enough for you kid?" But Gon wasn't going to give up easily and I let out a small growl as I moved towards Menchi.

"Yeah, but don't you also have the authority to say that we all have another chance at the cooking test?" Gon and I asked together.

"Besides, isn't telling us that we fail because of the fact that very few of us had any knowledge or way to get knowledge about a type of food that most of the world doesn't eat or really even know about, a bit harsh? I mean… yeah, sure, you gave us some hints, but hints that just tell us what tools and _most_ of the ingredients don't actually tell us all that much about the dish. And after people did find out what the dish was like, you did pick a lot of small and not very important details for why we shouldn't pass but none of them should have stopped at least most than half of the people in this group from passing, right?" I asked while making my face take on a look of extreme innocence as I looked at Menchi.

Menchi looked back at me, surprise overtaking her anger before rage overtook the surprise. "I've made my decision! Don't make me said it again or you'll regret it! The exam is over, why don't you go home already?" Menchi yelled before someone destroyed one of the work stations; it was number 255… maybe I should've paid better attention when Tonpa was listing names… Either way, I'm sure I looked about ready to cry or just surprised – it's hard to know how you look to others without a mirror…

"Alright, I've had enough of this. I _refuse_ to accept your ruling, so I am not going anywhere!" Number 255 yelled.

"Hey, I've already got two crybabies back here." Menchi said and I felt my eyebrow twitch as she pointed at Gon and me.

"Crybaby?" I hissed.

"What's that?"

"I said, why don't you come back and try again next year?"

"Don't give me that crap! I'm not trying to learn how to cook or become some kind of Gourmet Chef; I'm here to become a Hunter – a Black List Hunter, if you must know! I'm not going to have my fate dictated for me by some pathetic Gourmet Hunter, you hear me?" Menchi didn't look the least bit happy about what he said regarding Gourmet Hunters, and I got the feeling that we were about to see something that we'd not soon forget.

"Did you just call me 'pathetic'?" Menchi asked, and even though I was not happy about her calling me a 'crybaby' I knew without a doubt that this guy was going to be in a world of hurt and very, very soon too.

"Yeah, that's right, I did. You call yourself a Hunter, but all you do is sit around and eat all day! I mean, who are you kidding?" he'd just sealed his fate.

"So who's the blowhard?" Leorio asked.

"That's number 255; he's called Todo the wrestler." Kurapika said in reply.

"I don't consider the two of you worthy of being called Hunters, never mind examiners and my guess is that none of the rest of these other guys respect your authority either!" Number 255, Todo said before turning to Buhara as he moved to stand before the wrestler.

"Take it easy, Buhara, this is my business, so let me handle it." Menchi said.

"Well, let me see if it was just me I'd probably just end up breaking some of his bones, but if I let you handle it, he'll _really_ be cooked, wouldn't he?"

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who was wondering about that last comment. Menchi wouldn't really cook someone, like turn 'em into a dish would she?

"Oh really? That's cool; I wouldn't mind seeing how she prepares that recipe." Did Killua really say that?

"This is exactly why I hate dealing with amateurs. Okay, fine then, Number 255, I'll show you want it means to be a Gourmet Hunter. I'm sure this'll convince you; all other applicants should watch and learn, consider it my farewell gift." She stood up and sheathed her knives. "I'll see you back here in about an hour." Some people followed her outside and I heard them comment on how fast she was. I sighed, not really caring how good she was, and moved to the work station I'd worked at before and quickly cleaned it up before sitting on the countertop as we waited.

"Why did you get so mad when she called you that?" I heard Gon ask, but I didn't turn to face him.

"I'm not mad, just unhappy."

"Why?"

"Because the last person to call me that… was my Aniki." I answered, sad that even after five years I had yet to find him.

"You're brother? What's he like?" Gon asked as I heard two sets of footsteps but felt three presences coming towards us.

"My brother…? I doubt that he's the same now as he was five years ago; after all, people do change." I smiled slightly, but didn't bother trying to give a full blown fake smile since I didn't think it would convince Gon.

"But what was he like then?"

I chuckled; this boy was not going to drop this subject anytime soon, it seemed. "Well, he was always someone I looked up to. He's about five years older than me, so he'd be about seventeen now. He had blond hair and blue eyes, but I suppose he could've dyed his hair at some point and he could've started wearing contacts so who-knows what his hair and eye colors are now." I tilted my head in thought and caught sight of Leorio, Gon, and Killua looking at Kurapika as I continued. "He's always been level-headed and smart…" I trailed off as I started to get lost in thought. Kurapika did seem very familiar, like I had met him somewhere before and he made me think of Aniki and they looked a lot alike… but could it really be him? I frowned.

"Something wrong?" I blinked, shook my head, and turned with a smile toward the blond.

"No, just thinking. Say… why are you all trying to become Hunters?"

"I want to find my Dad."

"Money, all for the money."

"…I thought you were going to be a doctor, Leorio."

"I thought it'd be fun."

"To be a Black List Hunter and capture those who killed my kin." I blinked.

"Ah…" That sounded like something that Aniki might try and do…

"So, Kisa, why do you want to be a Hunter so bad?"

I smiled sadly, "I guess I'm like Gon; I'm looking for my Big Brother."

"Your brother?" Killua said it as if to say 'is that all?'

"Yeah."

"Why are you looking for him? Shouldn't he be looking for you?" Leorio asked.

I shook my head sadly, "I don't think he knows I'm alive, but I made a promise to our Mother that I'd find him. It's been five years, but I won't stop looking 'til I find him."


End file.
